"Barbara O’Brien’s wide-ranging account of Zen history is conveyed with a master storyteller’s ability to keep the forest from getting lost in a myriad of trees. Wearing her scholarship lightly, she blends just the right amount of skepticism about her hagiographic sources with a deep appreciation for the Dharma." — Barry Magid, author of
Nothing Is Hidden and
Ending the Pursuit of Happiness Order here!
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I consider myself pretty well-read, so I'm ashamed to admit that I never heard of her.
RIP
Her many fans will miss her.
She was a brilliant writer. If she wrote “standard” literature she’d have been considered one of the giants of 20th century literature, but because she wrote fantasy and SF she wasn’t taken as seriously. Same thing with Ray Bradbury. But Le Guin was even better than Bradbury. Here’s one of her better known short stories; very short, actually. It will give you a taste. https://www.utilitarianism.com/nu/omelas.pdf
It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.
I would urge the general fiction reader who does not read genre SF to start with her less-known <em>The Telling</em>, which is superb.
If that takes, read <em>The Dispossessed</em> which is better
If that takes, read <em>The Left Hand of Darkness</em>, which is … words fail.
OTOH, if you're a Potter/Tolkein fan, then <em>A Wizard Of Earthsea</em> is your entry point.
Joel — I don’t remember when I started reading Le Guin — probably when I was in college — but I made a point of reading everything she wrote until some time in the 1980s. That was about the time that having babies and dealing with life generally took precedence over reading. Now I want to read her later work.
I went through a SF reading phase in my early to mid teens. But I never got into fantasy. I'm probably one of the few guys who read "The Hobbit," but never read the rest of the books.
But even when I was in that phase – and I read of lot of books and short stories – I still have no excuse for not reading her.
How did I miss her?
I just never came across her name before.
Which is kind of surprising, since one of my absolute favorite authors is Margaret Atwood – and I've read almost all of her books – and she wrote a great tribute to the late Ms. Le Guin the other day. Apparently, she was one of Atwood's favorite authors! So how the hell did I miss her?
Looks like I've got some catching-up to do!
Thanks for the tips on what to read.
I cried. It didn't seem possible to me that she should ever be gone from the world.
"We live in capitalism. It's power seems inescapable. So di the divine right of kings."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et9Nf-rsALk